Higher Octane or not?

[heat1386]

Just bought a Mk 2 Octavia Vrs FSI in Race Blue:). (Traded in my boring Ambiente 2.0 Tdi :thumbdwn:) Just wanted peoples thoughts on whether to put the higher octane fuel in the Vrs? Does it make a difference in consumption and performance or do I save my money and stick to the 95 ron?

Many thanks.

Changed the font size to keep you all happy!!

[yashicamat]

My understanding was that the engine is designed to run on 98RON unleaded. In other words, to achieve "normal" performance and economy, that's the fuel you need to use. Using a lower RON fuel like ordinary unleaded will result in a drop in both performance and economy . . . to the point perhaps of negating any cost saving by buying the cheaper fuel in the first place.

HTH.

[Makefish]

Dont skimp, put higher octane fuel in whenever possible and preferably V-Power or Tescos 99

Not only will the performance be noticably better but you should achieve slighty better fuel economy therefore cancelling out any cost premium at the pump

Oh, and there's no need for the humungous type font, we can read the standard one easily enough

[markmuddimer]

v-power for me, very clean fuel. would not give my vrs anything else.

[Guest]

Dont skimp, put higher octane fuel in whenever possible and preferably V-Power or Tescos 99

Not only will the performance be noticably better but you should achieve slighty better fuel economy therefore cancelling out any cost premium at the pump

Oh, and there's no need for the humungous type font, we can read the standard one easily enough

As usual Steve you've hit all the nails on all the heads

[raceblueVRSdaz]

should i use super unleaded or just the bog standerd unleaded:confused:.

what is the difference. apart from one cost more..

thanks for your time to read this short post:thumbup::thumbup:

[Makefish]

Very similar to a thread that has just been p;osted so I'm merging this one with it!!

[bahnstormer vrs]

Don't skimp, put higher octane fuel in whenever possible and preferably V-Power or Tesco's 99

Not only will the performance be noticeably better but you should achieve slightly better fuel economy therefore cancelling out any cost premium at the pump

Exactly; couldn't have said it better.

[vRSLen]

But do you need 99 Ron this time of the year?

[bahnstormer vrs]

But do you need 99 Ron this time of the year?

YES use it all the year round.

[ednmra]

YES

Definitely!! If you don't believe us, try a few tanks of 95, then switch to 99. Give it a while to adjust - then tell us if it feels like a totally different car!

[Aspman]

There isn't a massive difference.

Going from Vpower to 95RON the car feels heavier. Throttle response is down and needs more of a shove to get it going.

On Super the car just feels lighter and more sprightly. That and you get 2-3mpg more with a light foot.

[Hofmiester]

Agreed, its not a big difference and I havent noticed any fuel economy issues.

The cars have adaptive timing so it wont casue damage running it on 95.

Personally if I'm going on a long journey where I know I will use a tank of fuel i put 95 in as I'm juts cruising at motorway speeds and on a full tank it saves about £5.

The rest of the time I use the 98-99 octain as its more fun

[Babs]

my 1.4 Lupo Sport ran like a dog with two legs on 95, give it 99 and it loved it!

[bahnstormer vrs]

my 1.4 Lupo Sport ran like a dog with two legs on 95, give it 99 and it loved it!

Yup; the Lupo Sport uses the same 1.4 16v as the Fabia (1.4 16V); another car tuned to run on 98/99 octane; only way the could get to the magic 100bhp for 1.4 litres!

[InSaNeCaT]

Same as what most people are saying.. I only ever use v-power or tesco99 myself.

On the odd times when no super stuff available for a tank or two, have also noticed that the engine sounds a fair bit rougher on 95RON, as well as a bit less responsive/powerful.

Was the same scenario when I previously had the 2.0FSI "Sport", perhaps even more pronounced on that car actually :confused:

[RobA]

I most be the only person here who notices no difference whatsoever between standard and super unleaded!

[Makefish]

I most be the only person here who notices no difference whatsoever between standard and super unleaded!

Seems that way!

Seriously though, we are having a RR day tomorrow not too far from you (link in signature) and there will be around 12 MkII vRS owners with various stages of modifications ranging from standard upwards. It would give you a terrific heads up and may convince you otherwise that putting the 'good' stuff in may be worthwhile

[Guest]

I was caught short and had to put some of the cheap stuff in and the car felt down on power and throttle response.

It even took a while after putting the good stuff in (V-Power) for it to get back to normal.

[Glenn1948]

The following link shows a lot of interesting gen on this topic, might alter a few views! features - Fifth Gear

[Johnwg]

Take it at 177bhp (for the Golf) those will be HP figures at the wheels?

Oh and its V Power all the way for me, ran a couple of weeks on Texaco 97 Ron High Octane it was ok but now back on the V Power and the car runs noticably better

[vRSLen]

YES use it all the year round.

so do I, but with constant wheel spin on the slime filled roads :(

[ednmra]

But the important point surely is what the car is recommended to use by the manufacturer. My 2.0FSI label says 98 in big letters ["but can run on 95 if wanted" - in small letters.]

So a better test would be to take a car designed, and stated, to need 98 [or 99], check it is giving its correct BHP on that fuel, THEN run it on 95 and see what happens.

I'm sure it is true that a car designed and recommended for 95 won't give much improvement by putting Super in it - that has been the case for as long ago as I can remember (last Tuesday I think).

[stroker1]

Ok - so what of those of us who have the diesel varient ??

Have tried a tank of the Shell V-power Diesel but not enough times to have noticed any difference.

I'm aware that there are supposed to be better cleaning additives in this fuel, but can anyone help with the performance results?

At about £1.12 a litre, it's an expense, but would/should it be a worthwhile one?

Hope someone on here knows - cheers.

[bahnstormer vrs]

I use V-Power Diesel all the time.

I did some back to back testing (two full tanks of each) about 6 months ago, with Shell regular, BP Ultimate and V-Power, IIRC got better fuel consumption and the car felt perkier with the V_power and Ultimate.

On the basis that V-Power was 1p cheaper than Ultimate, I get more 'points' and the forecourts of the Shell fuel stations I can use are nicer - I chose to use V-power. I'd also been using Optimax/V-power in my Fabia for quite some time.